It's been a busy few days at the IL office — last Thursday, the IMLCA Convention rolled into town and with it scores of coaches and advertisers. Then, we turned around and shipped out the January issue of Inside Lacrosse Magazine Tuesday afternoon. And of course, yesterday two MLL franchises were effectively born via the expansion draft. Thursday, Joe Sweeney, Jeff Dudley and myself will be hanging out with @ConBroChill in NYC.

So, now's the best time to go over a few notes from the convention that I didn't get a chance to share over the weekend.

Over a 48-hour span, Sweeney and I recorded video interviews with 20 DI coaches — it's a great way to pick up nuggets, and here are some of the best of those nuggets.

Injury Update

Virginia took another hit this fall when junior d-middie Blake Riley went down with a torn Achilles tendon that looks like it'll keep him out for the year. Expect freshman Ryan Tucker, who was floating between defense and offense in the fall, to run mostly alongside junior Chris LaPierre early in the spring. Riley's injury is another blow to the Cavs' roster, which has already lost attackmen Connor English to transfer and Nick O'Reilly to suspension. It's also a blow for Riley, who's improved a lot and is a tremendous kid with good flag football skills; he roasted me multiple times in our loss at the 2010 Will Barrow tournament.

Bucknell middie Charlie Streep looks on schedule to return from an ACL injury in mid- to late-March. The timing of his return is significant — it could mean he plays all of the Bison's critical Patriot League games, or returns after their first couple games. In his absence, coach Frank Fedorjaka has moved Billy Eisenreich to attack, a playmaker to go alongside scorers Chase Bailey and Todd Heritage.

Pace of Play

We asked each coach we interviewed his thoughts on the fan desire to increase the pace of the DI game, and each answer almost immediately went straight to a shot clock. You can find out more about the debate here, but one thing I found interesting was Maryland coach John Tillman's response.

Unsolicited, he brought up the uproar after the Terps' NCAA Quarterfinal game against Syracuse, during which they were notably given double-digit stall warnings. He said that he and his staff didn't discuss stalling, holding the ball or slowing down at all — the flow of the game and the quality of Syracuse's big, athletic defenders meant the Terps were pressured into a lot of shots that goalie John Galloway would eat up.

Of course, that's what you'd expect a coach to say. But I thought it was interesting that he brought it up and says it wasn't part of their gameplan.

Under Armour Gloves

Another note out of Maryland — the blogs made a big deal of rumors this fall that the Terps had sent back their Under Armour Player gloves because of hand injuries. Tillman said his team didn't have any hand injuries in the fall and were happy with the gloves, though he worked with UA to add protection to the outside of the index and pinky fingers.

Rumors: No fallball

As a part of their sweeping legislation that included the option of paying players a cost of attendance stipend a few weeks ago, the NCAA has proposed eliminating fallball competitions for spring sports, including men's and women's lacrosse, as a cost-cutting measuer.

That topic of discussion hits home for several charitable organizations, like HEADstrong and Play for Parkinson's, that generate a lot of revenue for donations through their fall events.

The hope is that the legislation won't go through (at least as is), or will include an exception for charitable events.

Conference realignment MEetings

It was interesting to see John Desko and other Syracuse officials walk out of the ACC meeting for the first time. Apparently the future of the tournament, and what to do with the fifth-seed, was a primary topic of conversation.

In the ECAC meeting, Michigan's presence helped as they talked about 2013 league scheduling and refs, a challenge for such a geographically diverse conference.

The Big East talked about officials, as well, since men's lacrosse is one of the few sports for which the league doesn't have its own refs.